Your rating of this hotel:
7.0
from 10
Hotel ratings by criteria:
Rooms:
10.0
Service:
9.0
Cleanliness:
9.0
Food:
9.0
Amenities:
10.0
My wife and I stayed at this hotel in November 2009.
This is not the first time in Egypt, they already had an idea about the Azurs (last year there was Grand Azur) and went there for two reasons: after reading reviews and already knowing the Azur grid.
HOTEL.
For our compatriots who do not speak English, it will not be easy to communicate with the staff in this hotel. It should be noted that there were no illiterate or Arabic-speaking employees at all, everyone knew English, but they could not find a Russian-speaking employee.
They settled in without any problems, literally 20-25 minutes after arriving at the hotel (operator natalie-tours), they gave the room simply chic, and without money, although, as it turned out later, there are simply no bad rooms in this hotel. (Money was given later, as a thank you, this number was worth it (A273)).
NUMBERS.
The furniture is normal, spacious, comfortable, there is a bathroom, a safe, a hairdryer, a TV, an individual condo with a remote control, a constantly replenished minibar. In general, the rooms are at their best, whether there is a Russian channel or not - I don’t know, my wife and I never turned on the TV during the holidays)) We cleaned the room regularly, towels sometimes “forgot to change”, otherwise everything is fine, moreover, as is customary in azura, baksheesh does not affect the quality of cleaning at all, don’t leave it - they will clean it well, but without frills in the form of twisted towels, leave it - they will clean it in the same way. My wife and I left purely symbolically (2-3 pounds) simply for a good attitude and readiness to always help with any problem.
And now about the bad: they give only one key to the room, no matter what you do, no matter who you ask and no matter what money they offer, they won’t give you the second one. Instead of a plastic card, you can use any piece of paper to turn on the electricity (A4 sheet folded into six), but I had to suffer with the key. A duplicate can be made in the market of the old city (El Dahar), for the locals it costs 2 pounds, and there you can agree. Girls - do not go there alone: that part of the market where you can make a key is for locals, there are almost no tourists there. Just keep in mind: if you are spotted that you have a second key, the whole hotel will fall on its ears, be careful.
SERVICE.
The service, I must say, is excellent. There are few hotels in Egypt with such service. Change small money, my wife and I changed little things for 1 pound and handed them out slowly to the waiters, at lunch, at dinner, at breakfast to the cook, so that he put sausages in scrambled eggs))) Here someone wrote that he left a buck at dinner, this many, besides, you will make only one happy, and there are many waiters. We were recognized everywhere, drinks were quickly brought, always as much as they asked for, at least 4 beers were ordered, at least 10. In the pool restaurant in the evenings there is live music, although the performance is very “lame”.
ALL INCLUSIVE.
Very good, drinks in the tango bar, lobby bar, billiards bar until 2 am, and there are about 8 bars in total. In the lobby at the reception in the evenings there are stands with alcoholic and non-alcoholic cocktails and vases with punches. The range of local drinks in the bars is impressive. From anyone you can take and go wherever you want. Cocktails are really very tasty and sometimes unusual. The principle is the same as with beer: so that you can drink a lot and not fall, i. e. Lots of juices, little alcohol. It stops climbing before you get drunk and disappears before you finish drinking the next one. Recommended.
The food in all Azuras is very good, there is a lot of it and it is varied, this hotel was noted for having a large vegetarian menu, although my wife and I ignored it)) We often gave fish of different cooking methods, but not instead, but along with meat dishes. There were no crabs, shrimp, but several times they gave all the same exotic: wild ducks and grilled chickens, the size of a couple of packs of cigarettes. By the way, all the hotels of the AZUR chain are distinguished by a varied menu. It should be noted that the network is growing by leaps and bounds, this year two more hotels were bought.
ENTERTAINMENT.
There is no animation at the hotel, the pool is just moving, and so there is complete calm throughout the rest of the territory. Every evening in the theater (21:00 beginning) there is some kind of program, but the skill of the actors rarely gathered more than 35-50 people in the hall. A couple of times, however, there was a full house - some kind of theater came, but the voice acting was in German, and we didn’t even inspect (((It should be noted that billiards is free, there are a lot of tables (9 pieces) and there is a bar nearby.
Every week there is a so-called belly dance. At the time of our stay, a large girl with large dimensions was dancing, who absolutely does not know how to do anything except shaking her fifth bust size. It was very disappointing to watch this, because. it is presented to tourists as a sample of local culture. If you get to the Arabella Azur hotel, then our girl is dancing there (at the time of our stay - on Wednesdays) - amazingly conveying both the technique and energy of this dance.
Some sadness was caused by the absence of a hookah bar in Arabia. Walked to arabella a couple of times and enjoyed it there. Not expensive by Moscow standards. In any case, we do not recommend hookah outside the hotel - they are cleaned every five years, and what they smoked there and what soiled the mine before you - will remain a mystery, you will judge by your condition. The hotel hookah, in any case, is charged with hookah tobacco, and the likelihood that hashish was smoked with it (which only lazy people do not offer tourists there) tends to zero.
In the tango bar after 22-00 quite a lot of not very young Germans gather and play mainly music of the 80s. Up to this point, you can ask the DJ to play music to your taste. He doesn't mind if the dance floor is empty, and he will put on Shakira for you, and you will come off)) And when there are a lot of people and they dance, there are already problems with the fulfillment of such desires.
You can play table tennis, squash and hang out on the simulators for free in the sports center of the Bel Air Azur hotel, which has a common infrastructure with Arabia. Please note that there are two gyms in the center - on the first and second floors. We just found the first one (mostly a rocking chair) at the end of the rest and it was too late to start.
BEACH.
There are a lot of beaches, really a lot, sometimes we even got lost, which one to go to)) There are beaches with a sandy entrance to the right of the sandy spit and in the lagoons of buildings A and B. For those who like to swim with a mask, there is an artificial island MARINA (there is also a bar and a restaurant where lunch) There are a lot of fish, I do not agree with some authors. It all just depends on the weather, when the sea was stormy - naturally there were no fish there. In general, there are beaches for every taste, there are always sunbeds, you don’t need to borrow anything.
HOTEL SHOTS:
1. There is no normal coffee, there is solvent everywhere. There is a coffee machine at the MARINA, but coffee is served from 15 to 19. Asking them to give coffee until 15:00 is unrealistic without baksheesh, they save...
2. Non-motorized sports at sea are paid, and the prices are crazy and different for everyone. (in Grand Azura were included in the All Inclusive formula)
3. In prime time ((from 9 to 11, from 16 to 20 approximately) problems with hot water.
4. There were a couple of short blackouts (again during prime time)
5. Be careful with the people from the hotel's photo lab, they have nothing to do with the hotel, and if they heat you up there, there will be no one to make a claim. With me, a German brought a defective camera, they refused to change it. I’m generally silent about the price, they have an underwater camera there for 130 pounds (730 rubles), and in the market of the old city you can get the same for 45-50 pounds (250 rubles). IMHO - PASS BY!!
FINAL CHARACTERISTICS
In general, in order to assess whether you need this hotel, you need to clearly formulate a request: what do you want from the hotel. This hotel is located in a hotel complex (very common territory and infrastructure with Bel Air and several common services with Arabell), but in itself it has a very large territory. This can be both a plus and a minus for your taste at the same time. On the one hand, you can walk along it for a long time and not walk up (feel free to find out new places and services - we didn’t find out everything in two weeks). On the other hand, if you are sunbathing on MARINA Island and decide to play table tennis, you will have to walk a distance that can both invigorate and tire you. So sometimes you can just get too lazy to get somewhere. In this sense, Grand Azur, which has a common territory only with itself, beloved, is more compact and contains all the services that are dispersed here over the territory of three hotels. Due to the fact that we walked mainly in the city, we prefer compactness.
Arabia is indispensable for those who travel with different requirements for the beach - the grand entrance is gentle.
The large territory of any hotel immediately means a large number of people. As already mentioned - at this time it caused problems with water. If restaurants on the street are closed due to the wind, you may encounter an increased density of hungry tourists at tables in closed restaurants. In any case, this does not spoil the overall impression - you just need to understand that everything has a downside. A big hotel is both good and bad.
FINALLY.
If possible, take the buildings closer to the pool - the buildings farthest from the center of the "branch" of the buildings are really very far from the reception, restaurants and other services. Tired of going to breakfast))). Moreover, at first we wanted a distant “branch”, because we decided that the animation by the pool could be annoying. The kind uncle at the reception realized what kind of grave we were going to dig ourselves and gave, in our opinion, the best he could: the closest to the beach room in the right wing of the building to the left of the pool (building A). The animation was not annoying due to the fact that the pool was still not close, and the animation turns on at 10.12 and 15 hours for 15 minutes, the rest of the time there is no music from there, no loud announcements.
FINALLY:
Below the links you can download a mini-dictionary of Arabic collected by my wife and I and real prices (for Egyptians, not for tourists) for some products, as well as fifty photos that did not fit into this review.
http://www. turbobit. net/ae1gtst312pv.html - Dictionary + Price + Review Arabia Azur (be sure to read the comments on the Excel file)
http://www. turbobit. net/l69y2hona23e.html - pictures
This is not the first time in Egypt, they already had an idea about the Azurs (last year there was Grand Azur) and went there for two reasons: after reading reviews and already knowing the Azur grid.
HOTEL.
For our compatriots who do not speak English, it will not be easy to communicate with the staff in this hotel. It should be noted that there were no illiterate or Arabic-speaking employees at all, everyone knew English, but they could not find a Russian-speaking employee.
They settled in without any problems, literally 20-25 minutes after arriving at the hotel (operator natalie-tours), they gave the room simply chic, and without money, although, as it turned out later, there are simply no bad rooms in this hotel. (Money was given later, as a thank you, this number was worth it (A273)).
NUMBERS.
The furniture is normal, spacious, comfortable, there is a bathroom, a safe, a hairdryer, a TV, an individual condo with a remote control, a constantly replenished minibar. In general, the rooms are at their best, whether there is a Russian channel or not - I don’t know, my wife and I never turned on the TV during the holidays)) We cleaned the room regularly, towels sometimes “forgot to change”, otherwise everything is fine, moreover, as is customary in azura, baksheesh does not affect the quality of cleaning at all, don’t leave it - they will clean it well, but without frills in the form of twisted towels, leave it - they will clean it in the same way. My wife and I left purely symbolically (2-3 pounds) simply for a good attitude and readiness to always help with any problem.
And now about the bad: they give only one key to the room, no matter what you do, no matter who you ask and no matter what money they offer, they won’t give you the second one. Instead of a plastic card, you can use any piece of paper to turn on the electricity (A4 sheet folded into six), but I had to suffer with the key. A duplicate can be made in the market of the old city (El Dahar), for the locals it costs 2 pounds, and there you can agree. Girls - do not go there alone: that part of the market where you can make a key is for locals, there are almost no tourists there. Just keep in mind: if you are spotted that you have a second key, the whole hotel will fall on its ears, be careful.
SERVICE.
The service, I must say, is excellent. There are few hotels in Egypt with such service. Change small money, my wife and I changed little things for 1 pound and handed them out slowly to the waiters, at lunch, at dinner, at breakfast to the cook, so that he put sausages in scrambled eggs))) Here someone wrote that he left a buck at dinner, this many, besides, you will make only one happy, and there are many waiters. We were recognized everywhere, drinks were quickly brought, always as much as they asked for, at least 4 beers were ordered, at least 10. In the pool restaurant in the evenings there is live music, although the performance is very “lame”.
ALL INCLUSIVE.
Very good, drinks in the tango bar, lobby bar, billiards bar until 2 am, and there are about 8 bars in total. In the lobby at the reception in the evenings there are stands with alcoholic and non-alcoholic cocktails and vases with punches. The range of local drinks in the bars is impressive. From anyone you can take and go wherever you want. Cocktails are really very tasty and sometimes unusual. The principle is the same as with beer: so that you can drink a lot and not fall, i. e. Lots of juices, little alcohol. It stops climbing before you get drunk and disappears before you finish drinking the next one. Recommended.
The food in all Azuras is very good, there is a lot of it and it is varied, this hotel was noted for having a large vegetarian menu, although my wife and I ignored it)) We often gave fish of different cooking methods, but not instead, but along with meat dishes. There were no crabs, shrimp, but several times they gave all the same exotic: wild ducks and grilled chickens, the size of a couple of packs of cigarettes. By the way, all the hotels of the AZUR chain are distinguished by a varied menu. It should be noted that the network is growing by leaps and bounds, this year two more hotels were bought.
ENTERTAINMENT.
There is no animation at the hotel, the pool is just moving, and so there is complete calm throughout the rest of the territory. Every evening in the theater (21:00 beginning) there is some kind of program, but the skill of the actors rarely gathered more than 35-50 people in the hall. A couple of times, however, there was a full house - some kind of theater came, but the voice acting was in German, and we didn’t even inspect (((It should be noted that billiards is free, there are a lot of tables (9 pieces) and there is a bar nearby.
Every week there is a so-called belly dance. At the time of our stay, a large girl with large dimensions was dancing, who absolutely does not know how to do anything except shaking her fifth bust size. It was very disappointing to watch this, because. it is presented to tourists as a sample of local culture. If you get to the Arabella Azur hotel, then our girl is dancing there (at the time of our stay - on Wednesdays) - amazingly conveying both the technique and energy of this dance.
Some sadness was caused by the absence of a hookah bar in Arabia. Walked to arabella a couple of times and enjoyed it there. Not expensive by Moscow standards. In any case, we do not recommend hookah outside the hotel - they are cleaned every five years, and what they smoked there and what soiled the mine before you - will remain a mystery, you will judge by your condition. The hotel hookah, in any case, is charged with hookah tobacco, and the likelihood that hashish was smoked with it (which only lazy people do not offer tourists there) tends to zero.
In the tango bar after 22-00 quite a lot of not very young Germans gather and play mainly music of the 80s. Up to this point, you can ask the DJ to play music to your taste. He doesn't mind if the dance floor is empty, and he will put on Shakira for you, and you will come off)) And when there are a lot of people and they dance, there are already problems with the fulfillment of such desires.
You can play table tennis, squash and hang out on the simulators for free in the sports center of the Bel Air Azur hotel, which has a common infrastructure with Arabia. Please note that there are two gyms in the center - on the first and second floors. We just found the first one (mostly a rocking chair) at the end of the rest and it was too late to start.
BEACH.
There are a lot of beaches, really a lot, sometimes we even got lost, which one to go to)) There are beaches with a sandy entrance to the right of the sandy spit and in the lagoons of buildings A and B. For those who like to swim with a mask, there is an artificial island MARINA (there is also a bar and a restaurant where lunch) There are a lot of fish, I do not agree with some authors. It all just depends on the weather, when the sea was stormy - naturally there were no fish there. In general, there are beaches for every taste, there are always sunbeds, you don’t need to borrow anything.
HOTEL SHOTS:
1. There is no normal coffee, there is solvent everywhere. There is a coffee machine at the MARINA, but coffee is served from 15 to 19. Asking them to give coffee until 15:00 is unrealistic without baksheesh, they save...
2. Non-motorized sports at sea are paid, and the prices are crazy and different for everyone. (in Grand Azura were included in the All Inclusive formula)
3. In prime time ((from 9 to 11, from 16 to 20 approximately) problems with hot water.
4. There were a couple of short blackouts (again during prime time)
5. Be careful with the people from the hotel's photo lab, they have nothing to do with the hotel, and if they heat you up there, there will be no one to make a claim. With me, a German brought a defective camera, they refused to change it. I’m generally silent about the price, they have an underwater camera there for 130 pounds (730 rubles), and in the market of the old city you can get the same for 45-50 pounds (250 rubles). IMHO - PASS BY!!
FINAL CHARACTERISTICS
In general, in order to assess whether you need this hotel, you need to clearly formulate a request: what do you want from the hotel. This hotel is located in a hotel complex (very common territory and infrastructure with Bel Air and several common services with Arabell), but in itself it has a very large territory. This can be both a plus and a minus for your taste at the same time. On the one hand, you can walk along it for a long time and not walk up (feel free to find out new places and services - we didn’t find out everything in two weeks). On the other hand, if you are sunbathing on MARINA Island and decide to play table tennis, you will have to walk a distance that can both invigorate and tire you. So sometimes you can just get too lazy to get somewhere. In this sense, Grand Azur, which has a common territory only with itself, beloved, is more compact and contains all the services that are dispersed here over the territory of three hotels. Due to the fact that we walked mainly in the city, we prefer compactness.
Arabia is indispensable for those who travel with different requirements for the beach - the grand entrance is gentle.
The large territory of any hotel immediately means a large number of people. As already mentioned - at this time it caused problems with water. If restaurants on the street are closed due to the wind, you may encounter an increased density of hungry tourists at tables in closed restaurants. In any case, this does not spoil the overall impression - you just need to understand that everything has a downside. A big hotel is both good and bad.
FINALLY.
If possible, take the buildings closer to the pool - the buildings farthest from the center of the "branch" of the buildings are really very far from the reception, restaurants and other services. Tired of going to breakfast))). Moreover, at first we wanted a distant “branch”, because we decided that the animation by the pool could be annoying. The kind uncle at the reception realized what kind of grave we were going to dig ourselves and gave, in our opinion, the best he could: the closest to the beach room in the right wing of the building to the left of the pool (building A). The animation was not annoying due to the fact that the pool was still not close, and the animation turns on at 10.12 and 15 hours for 15 minutes, the rest of the time there is no music from there, no loud announcements.
FINALLY:
Below the links you can download a mini-dictionary of Arabic collected by my wife and I and real prices (for Egyptians, not for tourists) for some products, as well as fifty photos that did not fit into this review.
http://www. turbobit. net/ae1gtst312pv.html - Dictionary + Price + Review Arabia Azur (be sure to read the comments on the Excel file)
http://www. turbobit. net/l69y2hona23e.html - pictures
Translated automatically from Russian. View original
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